Big Freedia is on her way to realizing a longtime dream of opening up a boutique nightclub/hotel in New Orleans.
The bounce icon has been teasing the venture for a bit, but a recent story for Nola.com confirmed that the groundbreaking on the Hotel Freedia will take place this spring, with the aim of opening for business by Mardi Gras 2024.
“This dream of mine has been in the works for a long time, I’ll be one of the first black hotel owners in New Orleans,” Freedia tweeted Wednesday, Feb. 1. “Will keep y’all posted on the official opening date, can’t wait to see y’all at Hotel Freedia.”
The Hotel Freedia will be located on Decatur and Frenchmen streets in the Faubourg Marigny neighborhood of New Orleans. And though it does have “hotel” in the name, the space will only have five rooms and operate more as a nightclub with food, drinks, music, and an outdoor pool space.
“Think of a country club with a music venue,” Freedia’s manager, Reid Martin, put it, adding: “Obviously, Frenchmen Street is all about local music so we want to have a lot of local music going on, but we’re also interested in having some national music coming in.”
Big Freedia began conceptualizing the Hotel Freedia about two years ago as she found herself stuck at home during the pandemic and cooking more for herself, her friends, and neighbors. “Not being able to go out and work during the pandemic, cooking brought so much light and creativity it just really got me interested in doing a restaurant,” Freedia said. “And I always had a dream of opening a hotel, so it just kind of came together that way.”
On top of her ambitious hotel plans, Big Freedia has remained as busy as ever with music. She, of course, featured prominently on Beyoncé’s lead Renaissance single, “Break My Soul,” last year, though she also released a slew of solo singles and collaborations.